Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — At first glance, the box seems like an ordinary green tub. Filled, it weighs about 120 pounds.

But its contents someday will mean the world to someone.

The tent, water purification system, blankets and other tools packed inside each ShelterBox can, for an entire year, support an extended family displaced by a natural disaster.

“I think it’s one of the better disaster relief programs because it has all the tools right in there,” Steamboat Springs High School senior Mallory Richey said Wednesday as she pointed to the box sitting in the back of a car parked at Bud Werner Memorial Library.

Richey and fellow Rotary Club of Steamboat Springs foreign exchange students Kestral Johnston, Hope Nelson and Deniz Buyukbaykal will host a silent auction Friday they hope will raise enough money to purchase at least one of the boxes that cost $1,000 each.

The students then will be able to track the box online as it’s sent to another part of the world where families have been displaced by disasters. ShelterBoxes began as the idea of an English Rotarian named Tom Henderson. Since the program’s inception in 2000, tens of thousands of ShelterBoxes have been sent to people affected by more than 150 disasters in more than 70 countries.

The auction at Steaming Bean Coffee Co. in downtown Steamboat coincides with Mainstreet Steamboat Springs’ First Friday Artwalk. Auction items will include student artwork, four Colorado Rockies tickets in Pete Coors’ personal box seats and a half-day wakesurfing lesson, among other things

Last year, two of the high school’s exchange students organized an international tasting event and helped the Rotary Club raise enough to sponsor two ShelterBoxes.

Richey said preparing for the fundraiser this year has been easy, and she expects the payoff will be huge.

“We’re really privileged here,” she said. “It’s so easy for us to go out and ask kids to donate and make bags or contribute artwork. A little bit of time on all of our parts is making a huge difference.”

To reach Scott Franz, call 970-871-4210 or email scottfranz@SteamboatToday.com